Jain Moral Doctrine

Author(s): Harisatya Bhattacharya
Publisher: Jain Sahitya Vikas Mandal

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JAIN MORAL DOCTRINE
food on a living thing e.g. on a green leaf (Saçitta-nikşepa); if one covers food with a living thing (Saçittäpidhāna); if one delegates his duties as a host to another (Para-vyapadeśa); if his charitable conduct is vitiated by disrespectfulness or by envious competition with another donor (Mātsarya); or if his charity is not made at the proper time (Kālātikrama).
This finishes our survey of the Vratas or the vows, essential to moral progress. The five Vratas are vows of non-violence, sexual purity, non-attachment, non-stealing and truthfulness. The homeless saints practise the vows in their perfection; the practice of those vows by the house-holders must necessarily be imperfect and hence the Vratas as performed by the householders have been called 'Anuvrata', the difference between the Vratas and the Aņuvratas being not one of kind but of degree in successful observance. The seven 'śīlas' including the three Guņa-vratas and the four Siksā-vratas supplement the observance of the Aņuvratas and are generally meant for the house-holders. The observance of the śīlas paves the way of the house-holder for the practice of the five cardinal virtues and makes his conduct well-controlled. The Jainas further maintain that the well-ordered life which is the effect of the śīla-practice, should be crowned with a well-ordered death. Such a death is called the 'Sallekhana' by them and consists in a perfectly unattached and dispassionate attitude towards the world, during the last moments of life. This Sallekhanā or contemplative death is marked by total abstinence from food, drink, medicine and all things worldly and unperturbed fixation of the dying man upon his self. It is recommended for practice, not merely to a man observing the Śīlas (Na-śrāvakasyaiva Dig-viratyādi-silavatah) but also to one who has brought himself under self-control (Samyatasyāpi). The Sallekhanā is not a form of suicide. It is recommended only when the body is completely disabled by extreme old age or by incurable diseases or when it is rendered hopelessly helpless by the destruction or enfeeblement of the senses and such other causes and the man becomes conscious of the impending unavoidable death and of the necessity of concentrating himself upon his pure-self.
Akalanka nicely illustrates the practice of Sallekhanā by pointout firstly how the traders in valuable articles never want the destruction of their storehouse; that when causes arise to destroy the house, they try to remove these causes to the best of their ability and resources; that when they find that those destructive causes are irremovable, they do no longer care for the house and concentrate their efforts upon the preservation of the valuable articles of the store
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